Sharp Rise in Syphilis Cases Worries Health Officials

Sharp Rise in Syphilis Cases Worries Health Officials

After level reports for the previous two years, new syphilis cases in Los Angeles County increased more than 40 percent in 2005, from 865 cases in 2004 to 1,217 last year, according to a recent report by the county's Department of Health Services (DHS).

While two-thirds of the new cases were among gay and bisexual men, women comprised 11 percent of new syphilis reports. Cases among women - primarily African-American or Latina - increased from 89 in 2004 to 139 last year - a 56 percent increase.

"We were hoping there would be a leveling in light of the earlier two-year trend," and a three-year, $1 million syphilis awareness campaign, said Peter Kerndt, director of the STD program at DHS. "So the fact that it's continued to rise, that's of concern," he said.

Cases among gay and bisexual men continued to be concentrated in Hollywood and West Hollywood, while most female cases were reported in South Los Angeles - an area Kerndt said the campaign did not target because previous reports did not show an emerging problem there. The increase among women, he said, suggests bisexual men are infecting their female partners. Also, it shows there may be increased sexual activity between white bisexual or gay men and minority partners, he noted.

Some local health care advocates said the DHS syphilis campaign was inadequate from the start. Launched in 2002, the "Stop the Sores" campaign continued sporadically through 2005. It featured "Phil," a bumpy red sore who wore silver shoes and an earring. Around 40,000 squeezable versions of the character were passed out, and campaign ads were run in gay publications.

"From the very beginning we said advertising is all well and good, but you need more screening and more treatment," said AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein, who worked with DHS on the campaign. DHS should have aggressively reached out to affected communities, he said, by working with local groups to offer mobile testing and sending safe-sex messages in Internet chat rooms.

Los Angeles Times (06.04.06):: Juliet Chung

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HIV1 - ELISA Antibodies

Most people infected with HIV carry the virus for years before manifesting AIDS. During that period, infected people will have few, if any, symptoms yet they can transmit the virus.
The percentage of women with AIDS has increased steadily, and the percentage of people infected heterosexually has also increased, surpassing the percentage infected through injecting drug use.
During 2001, there were 35575 newly diagnosed cases of HIV infection. The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates now that 40,000 new cases of HIV transmission occur every year.
Of the people infected with the virus of AIDS in the USA in the year 2001, 42% were whites, 37% blacks, 20% Hispanics and <1% Asians and Pacific Islanders and <1% American Indians and Alaska Natives.
During the 1990s, the HIV epidemic shifted steadily toward a growing proportion of AIDS cases in blacks and Hispanics and in women.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is the cause of AIDS (Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome). The presence of HIV in the body can be detected in several ways. The most common is the HIV-ELISA Antibodies test.

The HIV-ELISA looks for the body response to the virus manifested by the presence in your blood of Antibodies to HIV proteins. Antibodies are special proteins that our Immune System produce in response to the presence of HIV.

The test performed on your sample actually consists of two tests: a Screening test and a Confirmatory test. The screening test procedure is called an ELISA—Enzyme Linked Immuno-Sorbent Assay or an EIA (Enzyme Immunosorbent Assay). The confirmatory test is used in the event your HIV-ELISA is positive and/or equivocal and is the procedure used is the Western Blot Assay (WB)

The screening and confirmatory tests are usually done using small samples of blood. If a sample of blood tests positive repeatedly in the screening test, it will be confirmed through the Western Blot test. People will be informed that they are infected with HIV only after both the screening and confirmatory tests have shown a positive (reactive) result.

Positive HIV antibody tests results are over 99% accurate when confirmed. Negative HIV antibody tests are over 99% accurate if it has been at least six months after a contact with a potentially HIV-infected partner. False negatives or false positives occur rarely.

Antibodies to HIV can be detected in the blood, in the urine or in the saliva. People produce antibodies with different speeds and therefore the time interval between infection and the development of antibodies to HIV can go from four weeks to six months from the exposure date or SDC ( Suspected Date of Contact). The appearance of antibodies in a blood or urine sample of a person which was known to be negative to HIV is called Seroconversion.

The HIV Elisa results are usually available in one or two business days.

STDWeB provides only health screening services. Tests are provided only for personal information and/or risk identification purposes. STDWeB does not diagnose or treat medical conditions. STDWeB screenings do not take the place of a physician care. Transactions with STDWeB are confidential and will not be shared with third parties. Tests with "positive" or "indeterminate" result may require confirmatory testing and may involve additional charges.